Lamp base



De c. 31, 1946.

B. THOMAS mulr use Filed Aug. 21, 1945 Y wzzvron V B. Ifioggs Attorney Patented Dec. 31, 1946 UNITED STATE LAMP BASE Ralph B. Thomas, Beverly, Mass., assignor to Sylvania Electric Products Inc., Salem, Mass, a

corporation of Massachusetts Application August 21, 1945, Serial No. 611,747

This invention relates to discharge lamps and particularly to such lamps which are bent into curved forms and having their ends in opposed relation.

In lamps of the type indicated, it is necessary to provide special means for making the necessary connections for energizing the lamp. It is an object of the present invention to provide means for readily connecting the lamp to a source of power.

A further object of the invention is to provide a bent tubular lamp having a base joining its ends which is rotatable into a plurality of positions.

A further object of the invention is to provide in a bent tubular lamp having its ends disposed in opposed relation, a base which is readily applied to the lamp at a minimum cost.

A further object of the invention is to create a greater transmission of incident light emitting from the lamp.

A further object of the invention is to obtain a complet circle of light with minimum interruption-caused by the base.

A feature of the invention is the use of a transparent or translucent plastic, etched or roughened on its surface.

Another feature of this invention is the use of light-reflecting insulating material on the lead wires.

Still another feature of the invention is that no cement is used to secure the lamp to the base.

supporting the lamp electrodes I3.

4 Claims. 401. 176-122) of insulating material and are held together by any suitable means such as the screw I, the head of which is seated in portion 5 and having its other end threaded in the part 6. Such construction permits the lamp base to be assembled upon the lamp. A pair of dowel-shaped projections I! are formed along the edges of the section 5 of base 2 and holes to match these projections i8 are formed in section 6 to prevent relative lateral movement thereof.

' The ends of the base 2 are formed to present The ends of the lamp are, or may be, of standard construction having a reentrant flare portion II and a press portion l2 within the tube and The lead wires in are preferably covered with a light-refiecting electrical insulating material and are soldered to the inner ends of a pair of conducting pins 14, which are staked or molded in position 4 in the base section 6 and are spaced the correct An advantage of the invention is that there is a greater transmission of light from the lamp.

Other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the drawing in which:

Figurel is a perspective view of a lamp embodying the invention; V

Figure 2 is a longitudinal sectional view through the lamp base and socket; and

Figure 3 is a longitudinal sectional view similar to Figure 2 showing a different embodiment of the invention.

Figure 1 shows a circular lamp I having a lamp base 2 and conductor pins 3. I

In Figure 2 the circular lamp I has end pieces 4 which desirably are parallel and symmetrically disposed in respect to a radius from the center of the lamp circle. The lamp base 2 is cmstructed of transparent or translucent plastic material in the form of a hollow cylinder divided longitudinally into two sections 5 and 6, these sections desirably being molded or otherwise formed lead wires.

' the lamp at or near its periphery. Stop shoulders are provided which engage the projection l5 at distanceto be received in a socket made to receive them not shown in the drawing. Either two or four pins may be mployed depending upon the type of lamp used and its circuit requirements.

It is desirable that the base 2 be restricted in its rotation to prevent excessive twisting of the An angular adjustment of 180 is suflicient to adapt the lamp to any installation.

A desirable means for accomplishing this end is to form a projection l5 upon the end face of the limit of the travel of the base 2. Stop shoulders may be provided in any suitable manner. As illustrated in the drawing the portion of at least one of the recesses 8 formed in the section 5 of the base 2 is relatively shallow in depth while that portion formed in the section 5 is of greater depth and sufiicient to receive projection IS. The differencein depth between the two portions of the recesses 8 presents stop shoulders I6 which engage the projection l5.

A base of the type herein described may readily be molded or otherwise formed from the light absorption from the lead wires inside the socket a coating of light-reflecting electrical insulating material is applied to them. A base of the type herein described is favorably suited to the utilization of the incident light from the lamp since no cement is used in securing the lamp and socket thus leaving an unobstructed passage for light through the base.

This application is a continuation in part of my co-pending application Serial No. 585,260, filed March 28, 1945, which issued January 8, 1946, as United States Patent No. 2,392,785.

What I claim is:

I lindricai base'member loosely embracing the ends of the lamp and extending therebetween whereby the base may be rotated thereon, said base being formed of translucent plastic, lead wires,

' covered with a light reflecting insulating material,

connected to the lamp electrodes and extending into said base, contact pins projecting or opening into ,thehollow interior of the base with their other ends projecting outward for connection to a source of energy and means to connect said lead wires to said pins.

In order to reduce the amount of 1. In combination with a tubular discharge lamp of non-linear configuration having its ends disposed in spaced opposed relation, a hollow 057- 2. In combination with a tubular discharge lamp, 2. base of translucent material having lead wires covered with light-reflecting insulating material. v

3. An electric discharge device for forming a complete circle of light emission, comprising a circular glass dischargetube sealed'at each of its ends to form an incomplete circle, a tubular base of translucent material joining said ends and being substantially free of obstruction, to permit diffusionthrough said base of the light from the sealed ends of said tube.

'4. The combination of claim 3, contact pins extending outward from said base, lead-in wires extending through the sealed ends of said tube to said pins, and a light-reflecting electrically-insulating material over said lead-wires to reduce light loss by said wires.

' 1 RALPH B. THOMAS. 

